anapestic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   in prosody, relating to or composed of anapests, metrical feet with two unstressed or short syllables followed by one stressed or long syllable

   The poem's anapestic rhythm gives each line a rapid rising movement.

2. 2
   noun

   an anapestic metrical foot, line, or passage

   The translator used an anapestic to quicken the close of the stanza.

From Late Latin anapaesticus, from Greek anapaistikos, based on anapaistos ("struck back, reversed"). The name reflects the anapest's traditional description as a reversed dactyl: two short syllables followed by a long one instead of the reverse.

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